Marionettes
by Firecat21870
Summary: In the clans, not all is as it seems. Dovepaw is just an apprentice under Nightwhisper's training, but it appears that strange things are happening, cats are being murdered and all signs point to Dovepaw. tensions are rising as Riverclan grows angry at the murder of their deputy. Now its up to her to find out the culprit and restore peace, but a greater force is pulling the strings
1. Prolouge

Marionettes

 **WARNING: THIS STORY CONTAINS VOILENCE, MURDER, RAPE AND TOURTURE ALONG WITH EXTREME BLOOD/GORE. IF YOU HAVE ANY ISSUES WITH THAT. STOP READING NOW. THANK YOU**

 **~Firecat21870**

 _ **Special thanks to Allie for drawing the cover**_

 _Thunderclan_

 _Leader: Lionstar- a massive brown tom with amber eyes_

 _Deputy: Lightningtail- slim yellow spotted shecat with amber eyes_

 _Medicine cat: meadowsweet- tortoiseshell shecat_

 _Warriors_

 _Oakfur- strong brown tom_

 _Greyfur- grey she cat with long hair_

 _Tigerstripe- huge brown tabby tom_

 _Nightwhisper-black tabby Tom with a scar over his right eye and burning green eyes._

 _Ravenwing- black shecat with gentle green eyes_

 _Stormtail- dark grey Tom with blue eyes_

 _Scorchstrike- a brown Tom with legs that fade to black and a black tail tip_

 _Flintspark- a grey tom with amber eyes_

 _Sedgestep- white Tom_

 _Apprentices_

 _Tundrapaw- black and white dappled she at with blue eyes (Sedgestep)_

 _Rosepaw- brown and cream spotted shecat with amber eyes (Flintspark)_

 _Ravenpaw- black and white shecat with green eyes (stormtail)_

 _Wolfpaw:-grey tom with broad shoulders, sharp ears with a slightly pointed muzzle and ice blue eyes (Scorchstrike)_

 _Queens_

 _Dawndapple- a golden and black dappled shecat, mother of Thunderkit and Morningkit_

 _Willowfur-white shecat with green eyes: mother of Dovekit_

 _Elders_

 _Fawnleap- brown shecat who is lame in one leg._

 _Peakclaw- deaf grey Tom_

 _Thornspike- golden Tom who is blind in one eye._

Prologue

Lightningtail, deputy of Thunderclan, had just found out that her best friend had died giving birth to a tom. She had been excited that she was expecting the kits of the former deputy Redfire, who had died in a skirmish with Shadowclan a few moons before.

Now her sister was with her mate, leaving the young tom orphaned. Meadowsweet, the medicine cat now looked at Lightningtail as her mate, Lionstar, dug his claws into the dirt. She was numb to the world, first her parents had died the day they became warriors, now her best friend was gone.

Lightningtail stepped into the nursery, the scent of milk rushed to greet her, she looked to her friend's, and a small spotted shape was nestled around him. She walked to her, Dawndapple's still body was still slightly warm as she buried her face into it.

"Lightningtail. Im sorry." Greyfur's mew rang in her ears, she felt the shecat's breath on her. But her gaze was fixated on the bundle of mewling fur. "Thunderkit…" Lightningtail whispered, the tom stirred as she picked him up and set him down at Willowheart's nest, the white shecat was wrapped around a white shekit. Dovekit was a quarter moon older than Thunderkit, but the way their frames nestled closer together was adorable, as if they had accepted each other. "Thunderkit… a fine name for a fine warrior." Willowheart purred. "That's the name she said she would name her firstborn, she would have named the shekit Morningkit. I'll miss her." Lightningtail whispered sadly, referring to the other bundle of fur in the nest, a beautiful golden and amber dappled shekit, she had been stillborn.

"He'll be a great warrior, just like his father. And a tough nut to crack like his mother." Greyfur said. "Dawndapple was always one of the toughest and most stubborn cats." Lionstar said, his brown pelt rippling, putting a paw on lightningtail's paw.

"Im sure Dovekit would love the company, but the nursery is almost full." Lightningtail said. "That it is." Willowheart mused. A sudden ball of fur flew towards them. "Tundrakit!" Greyfur said. The dappled kit stood at her mother's paws and said. "Why is Dawndapple not moving?" the shekit was almost an apprentice. Foxkit, Oakfur's daughter, trotted up to her, Foxkit was only a quarter moon old. "She's just tired!"

Lightningtail looked to the kits and said "yes… she's just very tired…" Lightningtail tried to brush away some of that tears that ran down her face. A low growl came from behind them. "Im so sorry, Lionstar, Lightningtail…" Lightningtail spun around, but Lionstar beat her to it.

In the blink of an eye, a black tom with a scar over one of his fierce green eyes was pinned to the ground. "Nightwhisper! Get out, you have no business here!" the huge brown tom snarled. "Tigerstripe! Get him out of here!" Lionstar shouted. A huge dark brown tabby with a white chest stalked into the room and Nightwhisper's green eyes glinted in fear and amusement. "Nightwhisper… do I have to drag you out again?" the huge tabby sighed, his amber eyes bored.

"Now, now, Tigerstripe. Do you really want to make a bad example of yourself in front of kits?" Nightwhisper growled. "I am respected! All you do is act like your hunting and steal some of the apprentices prey and call it yours!" Tigerstripe hissed.

Suddenly, a mew alerted the cats that a kit was watching. Dovekit's silvery white fur gleamed in the den, a pair of bright, intense blue eyes met Nightwhisper's, they seemed to burn into him, searching his soul, stealing his secrets and tearing his stone heart into ribbons.

No.

She was just a kit, there was no way something so innocent could see the torment inside him. Nobody knew what he had gone through. Not even his brother, Lionstar, knew.

Lightningtail flicked her tail and Tigerstripe shoved Nightwhisper out of the den. Maybe it had just been his imagination, or was it? There definitely something special about Dovekit.

"Come on, and don't goggle at the kit." Tigerstripe said, shoving Nightwhisper away. Nightwhisper complied, his mind full of thoughts. He thought of how he could have thought that a mere kitten could look so powerful, but was so young. But he knew that she could be a great warrior.

 _ **Hello Everyone! I am so sorry that this seems rushed, I really have a lot planned for this story. More content is coming as soon as I can. I have a few chapters already written out on my phone, I just need to transfer them to my computer, make edits and add content. But I promise that more is coming soon.**_


	2. An Apprentice

**Special thanks to Allie for drawing the cover**

"Thunderkit, your mentor will be Tigerstripe. Dovekit your mentor will be Nightwhisper." Lionstar said.

"Dovepaw! Thunderpaw!" The clan cheered. Nightwhisper stalked toward Dovepaw. "Come on, I'll show you the territory." He said. Dovepaw followed him as he walked out of the camp. Wolfpaw suddenly bounded towards them, "congratulations Dovepaw!" He said, Dovepaw had to look up slightly at the huge apprentice, Wolfpaw and Rosepaw, the kits of Greyfur and Oakfur were the oldest apprentices and were due their warrior names in a moon.

"Wolfpaw, you should be with Scorchstrike." Nightwhisper said.

"I just got back from patrol! Why should I be with my mentor? He said i can take the day off." Wolfpaw replied evenly. "Very well." Nightwhisper replied.

Anything else Wolfpaw was going to say was stopped by Rosepaw walking by and flicking her tail tip in his face. "Scorchstrike wants you to go hunting with Tundrapaw and Tigerstripe." She mewed. Wolfpaw growled and stalked away, tail lashing.

"Loser." Wolfpaw growled, shoving his face in Rosepaw's and shoving her off balance with a broad shoulder. "Mouseheart." Rosepaw replied with a smirk, swiping a paw at her brother and hooking a back leg around his and tripping him. "Enough!" Nightwhisper boomed, looming over the two. "Wolfpaw, go on your patrol, Rosepaw, join me and Dovepaw, we will work on hunting later." He said. Wolfpaw scrambled away as Rosepaw followed them.

Nightwhisper looked at the apprentices and held his head up high as he led Dovepaw forward.

"Here is the Shadowclan border, you are never to cross it, if you cross an enemy border, you can be punished, Shadowclan is led by Silkstar currently, Shadowclan pride themselves for once being the strongest clan, but they have been torn apart by traitorous leaders like Brokenstar and Tigerstar." Nightwhisper said. Dovepaw flinched slightly as his rancid breath was in the air. "Rosepaw, renew the boarder mark." Nightwhisper said. Rosepaw quietly did as she was told and earned a nod of satisfaction from Nightwhisper.

They kept on going until the scent changed and the terrain showed a moor. "This is Windclan territory, led by Breezestar. You'll meet her on the next Gathering. Windclan pride themselves for their speed." Nightwhisper informed.

The next place they stopped by was a river. "This is the Riverclan border, Riverclan is led by Redstar currently. Riverclan holds the ability to swim in the water." Nightwhisper said. "And they eat fish!" Rosepaw chimed in. "That too." Nightwhisper said with a tilt of his head to a few cats. A strong roan Tom leapt into the river, diving down. Followed by an apprentice and a cream shecat. "Greetings Rowanstream, Shellpaw, Bubblestep." Nightwhisper said. "Hello to you too Nightwhisper and Rosepaw. I think you finally got another apprentice." Bubblestep said, dipping her head. "This here is Dovepaw, Willowfur's kit." Nightwhisper said in reply. "She looks just like her mother, with her father's eyes." Rowanstream said. "Sadly, Birchstripe is no longer with us. Snatched by a monster and never seen again." Nightwhisper said. "Sad, he was a good warrior. Tell Lionstar and Lightningtail they have my condolences for their son." Bubblestep said. "I will." Nightwhisper replied.

The trio of cats left and Nightwhisper continued on.

~X~X~

Time skip: half a moon later.

Dovepaw walked alongside Thunderpaw and Wolfstep. They were going to the Gathering. Rosepetal followed them as Lionstar led the way.

They came into the clearing. "Looks like Thunderclan is here." A red shecat said, perched atop a boulder. "Let the gathering begin." A cream Tom, almost white, announced.

"Riverclan is doing well now, Birdwing has had a litter of three kits and we have a new warrior. Shellheart!" Redstar said. Shellheart stepped forward as the cats called out his name.

A black and grey tuxedo Tom went next. "Windclan has had troubles with rabbit poisoning, we lost Leafstorm and Lighttail to it, the issue is solved now and prey is running well." Breezestar said.

"Shadowclan is doing well, no new kits yet but Sparrowflight is expecting kits. We have two new apprentices, Snakepaw and Viperpaw!" Silkstar said. Two sand colored cats raised their heads proudly.

Lionstar than spoke. "We are sad to say that Birchstripe is still missing, but we have two new warriors. Rosepetal and Wolfstep, along with two new apprentices, Dovepaw and Thunderpaw!" He said. Dovepaw looked at Nightwhisper, who was talking with a Shadowclan shecat, an orange cat with red swirls on her pelt and yellow eyes. She turned to look at Dovepaw, her gaze burning into her.

"So, you are Nightwhisper's apprentice, the last one he had was actually Birchstripe. You think you are up for filling his shoes?" The shecat asked. "Firestrike, don't scare her." Nightwhisper replied, his green eyes "because you are looking right at his daughter." Dovepaw said. "Hm. I thought your eyes looked familiar. I'm pleased to know that he found another mate. Willowfur is perfect for him. But I remember the days when Birchstripe was mine..." Firestrike said wistfully. "You were in love with my father?" Dovepaw asked. "Yes, we were young warriors when we met, in a border skirmish actually. He wanted to meet me afterwards, so we met at the border. But my sister Blazefire had to interrupt us a few moons later. She told our father, Skystar, the old Shadowclan leader, and you can imagine what happened next. We both were punished by never being able to be given apprentices." Firestrike laughed. "But when I heard that there would be more cats like Birchstripe, I felt bad immediately as i looked at poor Lightningtail when her next litter died.

"What is it?" Tigerstripe asked, Thunderpaw was behind him as he purred, bounding up to Dovepaw and she looked to him. "Ah, Morningkit, I'm sorry about her death. I know what it feels like to lose a sibling at a young age. I still love Skypaw. She was killed by a dog, me and Blazefire got revenge, blinding the dog and later crippling it with a rock." Firestrike said softly.

"Oh." Thunderpaw said sadly. But a call from Lionstar called them away. "Thunderclan! Let's go." Lightningtail stepped towards Thunderpaw and twined tails with him.

Dovepaw walked along the path with Nightwhisper by her side. "Meet me behind the nursery tonight." He said as he padded alongside her.

 **See! Im working hard on this story… by copying and pasting prewritten junk onto s Word document and posting it. Please review!**


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